Winner of the Rockower Award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism, this blog contains random musings of a journalist, father, husband, son, friend, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and occasionally-ranting rabbi, taken from Shabbat-O-Grams, columns, speeches, letters, sermons and thin air. "On One Foot," the column, appears regularly in the New York Jewish Week, as well as a blog for the "Times of Israel."

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Hi, everybody. I would have talked about basketball, but my brother got to go first. But it’s OK, because I had a backup theme – and it also has to do with basketball, and not just about any old team, but favorite team, which is the same as the rabbi’s – the Boston Celtics.

And my favorite player is Kevin Garnett, whom I’ve like since he was on the Timberwolves. Kevin Garnett, who’s also called KG, is known for what he said when the Celtics won the world championship in 2008 against the Lakers. He had been in the league for more than ten years and people wondered if he would ever win. But he did and he said (actually he screamed)… ‘ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!”

And one of my favorite songs, called “I’m on a boat,” has those same lyrics… “Anything is Possible” – the artist yells it like KG. In fact, he’s quoting KG. Another of my favorite celebrities is the singer Matisyahu – an Orthodox Jew who become a hit reggae singer. My favorite song of his is called “Miracle.”

The Purim story is also about miracles – but a special kind of miracle – one that doesn’t rely on God. In fact, God’s name is not found in the entire Purim story. The message is that anything is possible, but we can’t count on someone else to make it happen. We have to do the hard work ourselves.

But we also have to work together to make miracles happen, together with other people. The ancient rabbis said, “KolYisraelArayvimZehLazeh” – all Israel is responsible for one another.

And it’s not for Jews, but everyone. If we join together, we can make miracles happen. We can cure cancer, end hunger and bring peace to Israel.

So now that I am a bar mitzvah, I need to figure out what my part is in making miracles come about – because “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!”

For my mitzvah project, I am volunteering at the JCC in J-Gaming every Thursday helping kids with fitness games. I have a lot of fun with it because I love hanging out with little kids and being a role model for them.